The first thing on my Must-Do’s of Singapore list is the Gardens by the Bay. 

This place is huge and there’s lots to see! If you’re strapped on time, be sure to look at a map beforehand so you can plan out your time there accordingly.  There are many entrances and paths around the Gardens so my recommendation would be to exit through a different way than how you came and always take the long route so you can maximize what you see.  The Bayfront Station entrance has wonderful photo opps on the bridge.  If you follow the path to venture off to the side of it, you can get an excellent picture with all the Supertrees in the back. 

The Gardens by the Bay has so much to offer, you could definitely spend a full day here! But if you’re on a time crunch, head straight to the Cloud Forest—a 6 story tall indoor castle forest that is unlike anything else in the world.  There you will find a giant waterfall accompanied by a plethora of plants you didn’t even know existed. 

My favorite part about it was in addition to it being Instagram Heaven, the Cloud Forest actually dedicates an entire floor to educating guests about the environment.  In a concrete jungle like Singapore, it’s often easy to forget about the ugly truth behind climate change.  The exhibit highlighted an array of issues that the Earth is suffering from.  Not going to lie, I left the room pretty much sobbing.  One cool thing I learned was that the Gardens are fueled entirely by recycling toxic gasses released into the environment. How neat! Overall, the Cloud Forest was definitely one of the highlights of my entire trip.  They change up the exhibit every so often so I definitely see myself visiting again.

You may have noticed that the Garden is open from 5AM-2AM. It’s because they utilize lights to give the park a different feel. The Cloud Forest is definitely something you must see during the day.  However, if you want to be around for the light show at night, come to the Gardens at around 3/4PM to explore for a few hours before catching the sunset and show from the Supertree Cafe.  There you get an awesome elevated view of all the action.  If elevation is your thing, you can buy tickets to walk on an outdoor bridge that connects you to other Supertrees—this activity is not for the faint of heart though.

Although there are tons of dining options here, most of them are on the mediocre yet pricier side.  My suggestion is to grab a snack near the Cloud Forest entrance or at any of the stands located throughout the park.  I really liked their rice chips here and they also have an excellent ice cream selection with unique flavors.  The snacks were fairly priced and held us over while we made our way through the Gardens.  We didn’t want to waste precious stomach space on subpar food when we were in one of the food capitals of the world.

TIP: if you’re into flowers, you can buy a package deal that gets you into both the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome.  Tickets are cheaper if you buy them in advance online. They do Holidays themed flower displays during this time of year.  The Supertree Grove also gets converted into a Winter Wonderland Village that requires an additional entrance fee.  You can get a cool overview pic of the Gardens from the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  You can do this without being a guest—simply tell the host at the Tower 3 Lobby that you want to check out CÉ LA VI, their rooftop restaurant/club on the 57th floor next to the pool.